---
title: “And suppose, for the sake of argument, that it were not true that t… — Winning Buddha's smile · tree and pragmatics
description: “And suppose, for the sake of argument, that it were not true that the King’s son were dead?” Who acts: you, member, son. A sentence of «Winning Buddha's smile», Winning Buddha’s Smile, part 8, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Winning Buddha's smile, Winning Buddha’s Smile, part 8, sentence 13

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“And suppose, for the sake of argument, that it were not true that the King’s son were dead?”

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**Who acts:** you, member, son · **What happens:** suppose, not be, be

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This is a sentence of «Winning Buddha's smile», Winning Buddha’s Smile, part 8. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (you, member, son), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg78208:10:13
# text = “And suppose, for the sake of argument, that it were not true that the King’s son were dead?”
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
3	suppose	suppose	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
5	for	for	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	sake	sake	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
8	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	argument	argument	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
11	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	15	mark	_	_
12	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
13	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	cop	_	_
14	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	15	advmod	_	_
15	true	true	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	parataxis	_	_
16	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	22	mark	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	King	King	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	20	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	’s	's	PART	POS	_	18	case	_	_
20	son	son	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	nsubj	_	_
21	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	cop	_	_
22	dead	dead	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **suppose** *in a quote* | imperative | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  | for the sake of argument | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **not** **is** *in a quote* | past | member |  |  |  |  | true *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **is** *in a quote* | past | the King's son |  |  |  |  | dead *property* | tree rules |

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One row per clause the reader finds. «not said here»: a role filled from the clause above. «roles by»: a VerbNet class and frame when one fits the verb, else the reader's rules on the tree.

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**Text:** «Winning Buddha's smile», Project Gutenberg book 78208 (public domain in the USA). **Tree:** Mova's own parse, Elamur Cosmic License. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), the chapter read in order.

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